Scary experience

[Veronica111]

Hi

Last weekend I had the scariest experience of my life when some fraudsters who had instantly booked and paid for my space arrived at my home. They had hacked someone's profile. (this was the profile of a fellow host who had amazing reviews) there was no other way to see if it was legitimate or not. On arrival the three men were charming and friendly. I still cannot fathom what their intention was. I am so frazzled by this experience that I am terrified to have any other guest in my home. What saddens me is the fact that Air BnB did not even issue a warning to hosts. I am considering putting it out on social media because my family and i could have been in serious danger if it were not for Kenna who called me 6 hours after the arrival of the fraudsters. I had to call the police to have these people removed from my home.

Take care

[Linda108]

@Veronica111  It appears you have posted your message in another posting.  I am very alarmed by what you have posted and would appreciate if you would elaborate why you became alarmed.  Who is Kenna?  What action could Air BNB do?

[Veronica111]

The guys who claimed to be America, but they were not, entered my home and were so charming. The one guy told me his "wife" (who made the booking and the "person" with whom I had been communicating) was coming on a later flight. Kenna was a lady from AirBnB offices in Ireland. I just did not know who to contact or who to speak to after this dreadful experience.

[Veronica111]

*American

[Kirstie]

Hi @Veronica111,

This must have been a worrying situation to find yourself in. I'm glad that these guests were removed without any incident but I understand that you are concerned about hosting in the future. I hope this doesn't put you off completely, as there are thousands of lovely, honest guests out there!

As @Linda108 said, it's best to post a new issue/question in a separate thread to make it easier for others to find and hopefully give you advice. I have given it a title, please let me know if you want to change it!

Kirstie

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

One solution to this issue is to require the guest to provide names and phone numbers of all persons who will stay.  And tell them before they arrive that they will need to show ID upon arrival. Then you can do a search on social media for some or all of the names before they even arrive.

Another solution is to tell them that you will not check them in unless the person who made the reservation is present. 

You need to give them these rules in the listing House Rules, and also reinforce the rules in a message sent once they have booked.  Or take off IB and give these rules prior to accepting a request.

How did Airbnb know there was a problem?  What happened when you confronted the people?